School climate is an essential ingredient of student well-being and academic success. Although it has been studied extensively, only a few well-validated instruments are available for the assessment of school climate. The aim of this study was to assess the factor validity and measurement invariance of the Socio-educational Environment…

"Grit" is defined as passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals and consists of two proposed subcomponents: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. It has become a much-discussed construct even though research on its underlying factor structure has produced inconclusive results. Furthermore, grit as measured by…

One of the aims of the current study is to specify the model providing the best fit to the data among the exploratory, the bifactor exploratory and the confirmatory structural equation models. The study compares the three models based on the model data fit statistics and item parameter estimations (factor loadings, cross-loadings, factor…

A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted within the measurement portion of a structural equation model (SEM) looking at first time, full time freshmen's perceptions, commitments, and behaviors in the early part of the first fall semester. Survey items collected within the first three to five weeks of the initial fall semester were found to…

This study examines the factor structures of Personal and Classroom Achievement Goals and the relationships between them. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine data from a sample of 3,544 Italian 10th-grade students (184 classrooms) who completed the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS). Findings about the factor…

The participants in this study were teachers and students of a large school district located on the east coast of Canada. We distributed surveys to 1,514 teachers across 84 schools and received 1,423 usable surveys for a return rate of 94%. At the time of the second data collection, three years later, 1574 teachers from 78 schools agreed to…

The primary goal of this dissertation is to develop and provide preliminary validation for a new measure of culturally responsive practice. This instrument, which is called the Culturally Responsive Practice Scale (CRPS), includes items that reflect ways that teachers teach multicultural students in their classrooms. To accomplish the goal, three…

In two studies (ns = 312 and 1,149) with 9- to 12-grade students in pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) and IB Diploma programs, we evaluated the reliability, factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of the scores from the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R). Reliabilities of the five SAAS-R subscale…

In two studies (ns = 312 and 1149) with 9-12 grade students in pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) and IB Diploma programs, we evaluated the reliability, factor structure, measurement invariance, and criterion-related validity of the scores from the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R; McCoach & Siegle, 2003a). Reliabilities of…

Problem Statement: Learners can access and participate in online learning environments regardless of time and geographical barriers. This brings up the umbrella concept of learner autonomy that contains self-directed learning, self-regulated learning and the studying process. Motivation and learning strategies are also part of this umbrella…

The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity of the MBI-SS in Korean students. Specifically, we investigated whether the original three-factor structure of the MBI-SS was appropriate for use with Korean students. In addition, by running multi-group structural equation model analyses with factorial invariance tests simultaneously…

The purpose of this work was to understand the concept of trust, its meaning, antecedents, and outcomes as they applied to teacher trust in principals. Since there are very few in-depth studies specifically on trust in a school principal, research on trust from an organizational perspective was consulted. This body of research has numerous and…

The purpose of this study was to model, through structural equation modeling techniques, the relationships among superintendent practices of collaborative goal-setting, establishment of nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction, board alignment with and support of district goals, monitoring goals for achievement and instruction, use of…

Based on studies carried out on qualitative data an instrument was constructed for investigating how larger numbers of students handle graphics. This test, consisting of 18 pages, each with its own graphic display(s) and a set of tasks, was distributed to 363 students, 15-16 years of age, from five different schools. The format of the questions…